Two weeks ago, the emotional roller coaster of finding out that the EROD motor would not work for us since the car is a 96 sent us looking for a solution. We basically had 2 paths: 1, sell the 96 and find a 95 M3 and use an EROD Connect and Cruise set up, or 2, keep the 96 we have and use a dropout engine and tranny from a donor vehicle with all of the EVAP emissions systems.
We expanded our list to LS1 Cars, F-Body 2002 Camaro, LS2 cars 2005-06 Pontiac GTO or LS3 cars 2008-13 Corvette and 2010-15 Camaro. After doing more homework and asking more questions, the project shifts a bit, and we will use a 2010 Chevy Camaro drop out to set up, which will include engine, transmission, air intake, Cats, ECU, EVAP, and all of the emissions from the fuel system except the fuel tank.
The LS3 is a newer engine and provides more power in stock form. We are looking at a CARB EO-approved LS3 2010-15 Camaro air intake that is slightly smaller to package into the e36 M3 engine bay. Since only items that have CARB EO #’s can be used in place of the original equipment from the Camaro.